Search Committee Named to Replace William C. Richardson
The chairman of the university's board of trustees is
appointing a 19-member committee to conduct a national and
international search for a "world-class" leader to serve as 12th
president of Johns Hopkins.
Chairman Morris W. Offit, after a meeting of the board's
executive committee last week, said it will "probably take a good
five or six months" to choose William C. Richardson's successor.
He said there is a strong likelihood the board will appoint
an interim president to serve after Dr. Richardson's departure
this summer.
Dr. Richardson, president for the past five years, announced
last month that he will take a new post as president and chief
executive officer of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation on Aug. 1. While
he deeply regrets leaving Hopkins, he said the opportunity to
lead the nation's second-largest foundation--and one that shares
his interests in such areas as health care delivery and
education--was simply impossible to resist.
Offit said he will chair the selection committee, with
assistance from two trustee vice chairs, Michael R. Bloomberg and
Lenox D. Baker.
Faculty on the committee will be Frances Ferguson, professor
of English, and Leon Gordis, an associate dean of the School of
Medicine and a professor of pediatrics there and of epidemiology
in the School of Public Health.
Douglas A. Fellman '84, president of the Johns Hopkins
Alumni Association and a trustee, and three students--a full-time
undergraduate, a full-time graduate student and a part-time
student--also will serve on the committee.
The remaining members of the committee are all trustees (see
list, below).
Offit--who also chaired the search that brought Dr.
Richardson to Hopkins--said he put together a balanced committee,
composed of members with a broad understanding of the university
as well as knowledge of a specific school or other interest.
"This is a world-class university. We'll be looking for a
world-class talent," Offit told the Baltimore Sun. "We'll find
someone whose scholarship is respected by the faculty, who has
enormous interpersonal capabilities, the ability to work with
people, to bring ... faculty and staff along the path of
collegiality."
He said the ability to build relationships, both inside and
outside Johns Hopkins, is essential in a president, especially
one who will lead the university during the bulk of the $900
million Johns Hopkins Initiative.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Presidential Search Committee
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Chair:
Morris W. Offit, BA'57, chair of the board of trustees
Vice chairs:
Lenox D. Baker, BA'63 MD'66, trustee;
Michael R. Bloomberg, BES'64, vice chair of the board of trustees
and chair of The Johns Hopkins Initiative
Alexis Bakos, Ph.D. student, Nursing
Andrew J. Bozzelli, BE'53, trustee
George L. Bunting Jr., trustee
Constance R. Caplan, MA'78, trustee
William J. Crawford, freshman, Home-wood schools
Marlene David, MLA student, Continuing Studies
Douglas A. Fellman, BA'84, trustee, president of the Johns
Hopkins Alumni Association
Frances Ferguson, professor of English
Leon Gordis, associate dean of the School of Medicine, professor
of pediatrics and epidemiology
Robert D.H. Harvey, BS'53, trustee
Stuart S. Janney III, trustee
Judy C. Lewent, trustee
Walter D. Pinkard Jr., trustee
Mark E. Rubenstein, BES'62, trustee
Frank Savage, MA'64, trustee
R. Champlin Sheridan Jr., BS'52, vice chair of the board of
trustees and vice chair of The Johns Hopkins Initiative